


The Choice

by The_Stitched_One



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Angst, Elves have soulmates, F/M, It hurts so good, M/M, Soulmate AU, one-sided, that doesn't mean much though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-13
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-09-24 01:29:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9693857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Stitched_One/pseuds/The_Stitched_One
Summary: Not everything goes as planned. Not everything you want happens the way it should. Sometimes dreams are just that; dreams. Sometimes events happen that changes things. Sometimes just because you meet your soulmate it doesn't mean that right away they are yours. Sometimes they have already made the choice against you. Sometimes you have a choice of your own. Sometimes you have to decide if what to do if they don't notice you. And sometimes...in the end...you have no choice at all.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry ahead of time! I was feeling a bit angsty and before I knew it this little one-shot popped out. Either way please enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own the characters involved/mentioned nor the world they came from. That right goes to Mr. Tolkien and Mr. Jackson.
> 
> Warning: un-beta'd. If anyone notices anything that I missed please let me know and I'll fix it! Thank you!

**_The Choice_ **

 

 

 

Legolas knew as soon as he caught sight of him.

 

Herded into a tight circle with the other dwarrow he almost seemed to disappear in the similar faces and clothes. Other than the scruff at his chin that set him apart from the others he looked much like all the others. Shorter like them. Broad like them. Covered in some animal pelt or another. Scowling like the rest of them. Only thing Legolas could see that set him differently than the others in the group was the aforementioned scruff. But it wasn't just the lack of facial hair that drew the elven prince's eye.

 

It was his eyes.

 

They had only caught Legolas's own grey eyes briefly. But that was all it took. That was all it ever took for his kind. One glance in those rich, dark, oak colored eyes and Legolas knew. He knew he could drown himself in those brown eyes with just the right tint of red to make them warm and be content for his whole life. They made his breath catch and his heart skip a beat. His very soul recognized it's partner with a single look just like every elf before him and every elf after him.

 

And he was already too late.

 

His soul's mate had already chosen another. In the scant seconds before they actually met the Captain of the Guard had rescued the dwarf with the red oak eyes and set a path. From his distance Legolas had seen it happen. The way the dwarf's eyes had lit up in admiration with a flush quickly appearing to surprisingly bare cheeks. At first Legolas had sneered but internally wondered why it had bothered him so much---but then he knew. A glance had told him. Legolas had to make a decision he had never thought he would ever have to make.

 

Tell the dwarf and his people what had happened. Ruin the happiness of Kili, Tauriel, and both their peoples. Set his father into a drinking binge that would probably last thousands of years. He personally would be happy, or at least content--for the most part. He would be near his mate---but so many others would suffer.

 

Or keep quiet. Not say anything at all. Not hint at anything. Keep it all inside--possibly Fade in the worst case scenario. Yet everyone else would be better off. _He_ would be happy. Tauriel, his Ada, their people: They would all be better off if Legolas just...didn't say anything.

 

Honestly, there was no contest.

 

Legolas kept quiet. He let his mate and his company be imprisoned by his father. He let Tauriel and Kili get closer. He noticed the small being that seemed to haunt the prisioner's cells but said nothing. Legolas even left food for him, despite everything and in the strictest of secrets. He let them go. He tried to put up a fight but in the end followed. He kept his stone expression perfectly in place.

 

His facial expressions gave nothing away to even hint at the black ugly emotions within. He tried his hardest to not give away who he truly was jealous of. Not Kili, the dwarf who's soul was a match to his own, but of Tauriel, Legolas's own second and friend. It worked for the most part, even his father mistook his reactions to how he wanted them to. He even warned him against his affections for Tauriel. And Legolas was sure Thranduil had threatened Tauriel as well separately. As useless as he knew that would be.

 

Nothing came to light until the very end, which Legolas was truly grateful for. Even when Kili had showed his hand, had whispered loving words to Tauriel that of course Legolas could hear with his perfect elven hearing. He fought to keep his facial expression perfectly even and frosty. The stabbing in his chest might make him want to double over in aching pain but Legolas let none of it show in his body language. At least, he hoped so. Instead he worked hard in pushing the feeling deep into his heart and mind. Making him almost numb to everything happening around him.

 

It was working for a while. Legolas could at least be proud of that. And everything would have been fine if only it wasn't for the hobbit. Until the hobbit came to him and his father. Until he begged for the two of them to save the Durin's. That set everything off from his plans.

 

His father, of course, didn't want to help. He was old, very old. And set in his ways. He remembered the countless battles their kind had against the dwarrow. He remembered past wars and fights and double crosses. Much like a mountain it was very hard for Thranduil to bend; to change or move. Plus he was an elf. Elves were notorious for being patient. His father had even said that hundreds of years could be but a blink of an eye for an elf and he wasn't lying. For a being that could live for thousands of years it was hard to get them to change habits that were centuries in the making.

 

Legolas was different however. He was younger. He had a different set of memories. And he had a soul mate that he could save if he just tried. Even if he fought to push down the connection that didn't change the simple fact that _He_ was hurt. And Legolas wanted to be there for him. So he went without much thought. His instincts took control. That was his first mistake. It instantly caught his father's attention. Thranduil followed his son at his own leisure, practically floating to the dwarven side of the healing camps.

 

Legolas should have minded his own business. He should have guessed that Tauriel was already in the tent and working on Kili. Her innate magic already mixing with his to heal him. She wouldn't be able to truly heal him, he knew--but if her magic held out then she would be able to make it so he would live. It also made it so if he so much as touched the young dwarf their soul bond would react to her magic. Expel it violently to replace it with his own. Everyone would know.

 

So he carefully kept his eyes adverted and worked on the other young Durin. The blond one. The brother to his soul mate, Fili. While he was so close to death like the other two, he was much better off. Thranduil easily took the worst case, Thorin himself, so Legolas worked on Fili. The stomach wound was nasty, cut him straight through. However it didn't seem to have hurt anything really, especially since the dwarven healers had already done so much to help him. The fall and hit to his head did more damage than anything. Twenty minutes later and Legolas knew he had done everything he could. Fili would be fine.  He sped up the healing of the stitches by several weeks. Connected intestine and repaired any nicks. Healed the head wound as much as he could. It would be a very long time before he could be fully healed--but he was no longer stuck in the death sleep. Just a healing sleep that made several breathe a sigh of relief.

 

"Legolas..." His father called from being bent over the dwarven king. He had noticed immediately when his son was finished with the older heir. He also noticed that Tauriel was on her last leg, exhausted beyond belief from the healing before, the fight, and now even more magical healing. Meanwhile Legolas (older and more experienced in such matters) had energy to spare. "Take over for Tauriel."

 

Legolas visibly hesitated. That was his second mistake. It instantly caught everyone's attention. It appeared for all intents and purposes like he didn't want to get anywhere close to the youngest Durin. It instantly insulted the dwarrow in the tent, who growled and grumbled muttered insults at the woodland prince. Thranduil's eyes narrowed, eyeing his son in suspicion. Tauriel frowned at Legolas, her brows furrowed in some thought. Which, Legolas had no clue, but he honestly didn't want to even start guessing.

 

"Legolas..." Thranduil's voice was perfectly even. Sounding completely bored and offhanded. His son could tell the underlining threat inside it though. He knew what that tone meant. It meant that Legolas himself had set them on this path of healing the Durin's despite what Thranduil had wanted to do. So the least he could do was follow orders and heal the youngest while Thranduil focused all his attention on the king. Legolas didn't have a choice. He would obey. 

 

His father didn't know why he hesitated, Legolas knew that. Still it didn't stop him from being just a little resentful to his Ada for making him do this. Legolas knew what would happen even if no one else did.

 

Still with great hesitance in his every movement Legolas moved to take Tauriel's place hovering above the wounded Kili. He took a deep fortifying breath to steel himself before he placed his hands on the dwarf and worked his magic.

 

It hurt.

 

Of course it hurt.

 

His soul and Kili's instantly recognized each other. The two met their partner's happily--than Legolas's soul noticed the magic taint among Kili's. It became jealous. It lashed out violently. Both bodies groaned and twitched violently as light enveloped them. Kili's soul tried to appease Legolas's by wrapping it's self more securely around them--but it didn't stop it. Instead it seemed to almost bear the pain with honor as it just hovered there. Watching as its partner forced out Tauriel's magic violently. Legolas's body felt a sharp pain shoot up his spine. Kili's body twitched an shook, his muscles reacting even though Kili was too close to death to be conscious.

 

Dimly Legolas heard shouting from around them, though no one could get close to them.

 

And then the foreign magic was gone and Legolas's rushed in. Frantically to save its partner, his soul worked to repair Kili's body. Much better than Tauriel's work. It knit together muscle and bone. It repaired the collapsed lung that had been pierced. So close to the heart it caused Legolas's own to give a painful beat. And when it was done it gave a sweet caress to its partner, who returned it in kind, before retreating. Leaving Legolas panting and achy but Kili whole and hale. Sleeping, as his brother, but perfectly fine. Not even a scratch upon his skin.

 

And Legolas completely mortified.

 

Instantly his expression, so raw and vulnerable during the healing, slammed shut. His eyes dimmed and a bored frown pulled at his lips. He straightened and cast a glance around. Everyone in the tent was watching him closely. The dwarves might not know why his magic had reacted to violently--but Thranduil and Tauriel did. Gandalf did.

 

And, by their expressions--they pitied him.

 

Trying to control his body as much as the shaking allowed, the prince finally moved. He had to get away. Away from the guilty looks of Tauriel as it all finally connected in her mind. Away from the Hobbit who looked near tears. Away from his own father who, while still illuminated in the controlled healing of Thorin, never took his eyes away from his son. Away from Gandalf who looked like he had miscalculated something and was regretting it. Away from the dwarf healer Oin who appeared to have guessed what had happened between the elf and the dwarf and was pitying them for it.

 

Just away.

 

He couldn't stand those looks. Everything was ruined. Everything he had sacrificed was ruined. He had little doubt that his actions would cause needless consequences. So Legolas left the tent on shaky legs but a straight back. This was his third mistake. He should have known someone would follow. He had just hoped they would have left well enough alone.

 

"Why didn't you tell me!?"

 

Legolas didn't answer right away but paused in his retreat. Choosing instead to just take in the cool air and the rushed atmosphere around him. They were oblivious to his turmoil, of course. Elves, dwarrow, and men alike had much more important things to do and places to be to care much about two elves standing around amongst them. They didn't notice or care about Legolas's stiff posture but studiously blank expression and hands shaking with uncontrollable tremors nor Tauriel's betrayed scowl. And only an hour later they would have totally forgot about it.

 

Still, Tauriel was his friend before all this mess had started. For that alone Legolas decided to answer. "Because it doesn't matter." He told her. His voice just loud enough for her to hear and mimicking his Ada a little too well.

 

"Of course it matters!" She yelled, stomping forward to grab at his arm to stop him. From what, Legolas didn't know...

 

He quickly moved so she couldn't touch him. He wouldn't be able to handle anyone's touch right now. Not without completely breaking. "No..." He told her simply, his tone taking a chilling note he had never used before. It stuck fear into her heart. Made her stutter to a stop. "It doesn't."

 

And he started moving again.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Sorry again for the depression/sadness/angst. 
> 
> Honestly I don't really like how it played out but at the same time I do. I might re-do it later on in the future but for now it's fine as it is. The story line just kind of ran away with me lol. 
> 
> For now I'll leave this as a One-Shot but I have thought of adding a second chapter where Kili confronts Legolas. IDK tho...What do yáll think? Should I add it? How was the story so far? Did it tug at your heartstrings? Please let me know!


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